Date:06/11/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/11/06/stories/2005110612000400.htm

New Delhi

BJP demands Natwar's resignation

Staff Reporter

AGITATION: BJP workers burning effigy of External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh for his `involvement in oil scam' in New Delhi on Saturday .- PHOTO: Anu Pushkarna

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi unit on Saturday held a protest demonstration in the Capital demanding resignation of External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh. The protestors also burnt an effigy of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in front of the BJP headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road.

Demanding the resignation of Mr. Natwar Singh "in the light of his indictment by the Paul Volcker's United Nations report on the oil-for-food programme during the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq", the BJP leaders accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre of behaving in an arbitrary manner hurting the pride of the nation.

Calling the latest scam as "corruption at the highest level'' the protest march -- slated to proceed towards Ms. Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence but stooped on Ashoka Road itself -- was part of the first phase of a nation-wide agitation launched by the BJP to put pressure on Mr. Natwar Singh to resign.

Addressing the protestors at the rally, Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan said: "The Congress party has for long cheated the people and this accusation by an international agency of repute has brought shame to the entire country. The nation's pride has been hurt and we demand that Mr. Singh be asked to resign immediately. We also understand that it isn't just Mr. Singh who is part of this scam but even Ms. Gandhi is involved in the entire deal.''

"We demand that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh instead of keeping silent on the entire issue take immediate action. We want to tell him that his silence contributes to the crime against the nation,'' added Dr. Harsh Vardhan.

Demanding that the Congress take responsibility for the action of its senior leaders instead of trying to buy time and dilute the issue, BJP national vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that it was time the Congress paid attention to the international humiliation that the report has brought upon India.